Elisha Barno, of Kenya, crosses the finish line as he wins the men’s L.A. Marathon as more than 24,000 runners take part in the marathon starting at Dodger Stadium to Santa Monica along Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica Sunday, March 19, 2017. (Photo by Thomas R. Cordova, Daily News/SCNG)

Elisha Barno, of Kenya, kneels after crosses the finish line as he wins the men’s L.A. Marathon as 24,000 runners take part in the marathon starting from Dodger Stadium to Santa Monica along Ocean Ave in Santa Monica Sunday, March 19, 2017. (Photo by Thomas R. Cordova, Daily News/SCNG)

Hellen Jepkurgat, of Kenya, crosses the finish line as she wins the women’s L.A. Marathon as more than 24,000 runners take part in the marathon starting at Dodger Stadium to Santa Monica along Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica Sunday, March 19, 2017. (Photo by Thomas R. Cordova, Daily News/SCNG)

SANTA MONICA >> As San Vicente Boulevard dipped toward the Pacific Ocean less than 3 miles away, Kenya’s Daniel Limo began to pull away from Elisha Barno, the last man able to hang onto him through a dramatic duel in the closing miles of the Los Angeles Marathon on Sunday morning.

“I was already saying, ‘Let him go,’ ” Barno said.

That was his head talking.

His heart told him something else.

“Try to close the gap,” he recalled telling himself.

Barno, 31, not only caught Limo but added Los Angeles to his growing list of American marathon victories, covering the 26.2-mile Dodger Stadium to the Santa Monica Pier course in 2 hours, 11 minutes, 51 seconds en route to a $23,000 pay day.

Hellen Jepkurgat completed a Kenyan sweep, taking the women’s race in 2:34:24, running the final 9 miles by herself.

Barno and Limo, the 2015 Los Angeles winner, found themselves alone by the 22nd mile, where they launched an epic battle, throwing a series of surges at each other before Barno delivered the knockout blow with a 4:40 25th mile. Barno covered the second half of the race nearly 4 minutes faster than the opening 13.1 miles — 1:03:58 to 1:07:55. Limo finished in 2:12:16, followed by another Kenyan, Willy Koitile, in 2:12:47.

“There was a lot of pain, but I had to stay patient and I had to keep pushing,” Barno said of his decisive move.

Barno’s moment of truth on San Vicente wasn’t the first time he had followed his heart.

He grew up poor in Eldoret, a city of 289,000 built on a plateau 7,000 feet above sea level and the Rift Valley, the heartland of Kenya’s global distance running powerhouse. Barno was forced to drop out of school as a teenager to help support the family. He bounced from one temporary job to another for local small businesses and neighbors.

“Things like slashing trees,” Barno said. “Small jobs. I was really struggling. I struggled just to find work. It was very hard.”

In 2005, Barno then 20, decided to try his hand at the local industry — distance running.

He was also encouraged by his former next door neighbor Yobes Ondieki, the former World 5,000-meter champion and the first man to break 27 minutes in the 10,000.

“He was neighbor since I was young,” Barno said smiling, holding his hand hip high. “Yobes said, ‘Run, run, you will make a lot of money. It will change your life.’ ”

Fittingly, Barno’s first race was called Chase a Dream, a local marathon. On sparse training he broke 2:20.

“That’s what I was doing,” he said. “Running for a dream.”

He began training with an elite group coached by Ondieki, splitting his time between Kenya and Santa Fe, New Mexico. He ran 2:09:45 in 2013 and then won the Grandma’s Marathon in Minnesota in 2015. He defended his Grandma’s title last year. After winning the California International marathon in Sacramento in 2015, Barno set his sights on the 2016 L.A. Marathon but did not make it to the starting line. Shortly before his departure date from Kenya, Barno realized his visa had expired.

“I was very sad,” he said.

His confidence for a second shot at Los Angeles was bolstered when Dominic Ondoro, his training partner in Santa Fe in recent months, won the Houston Marathon in January.

“When Dominic won, I knew I could do something in Los Angeles,” Barno said.

Barno tagged along in a lead pack of 10 that cautiously navigated the first half of the race, only one of the first 14 miles dipping under 5 minutes. Barno surged at the halfway mark in a sign of things to come. A downhill 4:51 15th mile began a string of 4:51, 4:51, 4:57, 4:55 miles. A 4:49 24th mile seemed to propel Limo to his second L.A. victory in three years.

Then Barno listened to his heart.

He pulled even with Limo, surged, responded to a final Limo attack and then broke his countryman for good, opening up a 100-meter gap before the race turned onto Ocean Avenue for its final stretch.

Scott M. Reid is a sports enterprise/investigative reporter for the Orange County Register. He also covers Olympic and international sports as well as the Los Angeles’ bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games. His work for the Register has led to investigations by the International Olympic Committee, the U.S. Department of Education, the California Legislature, and the national governing bodies for gymnastics and swimming. Reid's 2011 reporting on wide spread sexual abuse within USA Gymnastics and the governing body's failure to effectively address it led to Don Peters, coach of the 1984 record-setting Olympic team, being banned from the sport for life. His reporting also prompted USA Gymnastics to adopt new guidelines and policies dealing with sexual abuse. Reid's 2012 and 2013 reporting on sexual abuse within USA Swimming led to the banishment of two top level coaches. Reid has won 11 Associated Press Sports Editors awards for investigative reporting since 1999. He has also been honored by APSE for game writing, and enterprise, news, and beat reporting. He was an Investigative Reporters and Editors award finalist in 2002 and 2003. Prior to joining the Register in 1996, Reid worked for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Dallas Times Herald. He has a B.A. in the History of the Americas from the University of Washington.

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